Dorset Children’s Services Accessibility Strategy 2022 – 2025: Summary

Accessibility means making sure a person is not excluded because of their disability.

It is about removing barriers so that someone with a disability can do what they need to, as quickly and easily as someone who does not have a disability.

Removing barriers helps people with disabilities to be as independent as possible.

What disability means

The Equality Act 2010 says that someone has a disability if they have:

• a physical or mental impairment, and  
• this has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities

Links to special educational needs

A child or young person has special educational needs if they:

• have a learning difficulty or disability, and
• they require special educational provision to be made for them

Some children and young people will have special educational needs and a disability.

Why we have an Accessibility Strategy

We have a duty under the Equality Act to write an Accessibility Strategy in relation to our schools. It must focus on how we will:

1. increase access to the curriculum for children and young people with disabilities
2. improve the physical environment so that children and young people with disabilities can take advantage of all that is on offer
3. make information more accessible by providing this in a range of different ways

Schools must write an accessibility plan which covers the same points as above. This can usually be found on the school’s website or by asking the school for a copy.

Early years settings and Further Education (FE) colleges do not have to write an Accessibility Plan. But they do have to make reasonable adjustments.

Reasonable adjustments 

If we, or an education setting, does something that places a child or young person with a disability at a substantial disadvantage to others, we must take reasonable steps to overcome this.

This is known as our duty to make reasonable adjustments.

The duty to make reasonable adjustments is anticipatory. This means thinking ahead about how we can help children and young people with disabilities.

What we hope to achieve

Through the Accessibility Strategy, we hope that our children and young people with disabilities:

• will feel welcome and included in their school or setting
• can access the curriculum, environment and information
• will have their needs met and adjustments made in advance
• are involved in discussions about their support, and are listened to and respected

What our children and young people told us

Our children and young people with disabilities told us that it is important to have trained staff, who understand their needs. They also said having a chance to talk through any concerns was helpful.

They told us they would like:

• more staff to be aware of disability
• other pupils to understand disability
• other accessible formats, for example, large print books
• more trips and activities and for these to be better advertised
• opportunities to learn independent living skills

What parents and carers told us

Many parents and carers were not aware of the Accessibility Strategy. Nor were they aware that schools have Accessibility Plans.

We asked them what helps their child take to part and feel included at school.
They told us:

• being made to feel welcome
• staff with good knowledge about disabilities
• regular communication
• opportunities to take part in all activities

all help their child take to part and feel included at school.

They told us that things don’t work well when:

• staff have little awareness of disabilities
• there is a lack of communication
• their views are not listened to

We asked parents and carers about life in Dorset for their child. They liked:

• receiving information about upcoming events and activities
• going to places where staff are friendly and welcoming
• having community groups and holiday clubs

But they felt that:

• information about activities was hard to find
• activities and events were limited, or far away from them
• staff needed more training about supporting children with disabilities

What schools, early years settings and colleges told us

Our schools and settings spoke positively about:

• having an inclusive culture
• listening to the child or young person
• good links with professionals and parents

Some of the challenges to accessibility included:

• older buildings not being suitable
• finding suitable trips, outings and activities
• having to wait a long time for support from professionals

Schools and settings told us that they would like more:

• information about funding to support children and young people with disabilities
• training courses for staff and help to build awareness of disabilities

What our data tells us

In Dorset, we support a range of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The most common include:

• speech, language and communication needs
• social, emotional and mental health needs
• autism

Our schools and educational settings

Most children and young people with a disability attend a local mainstream school.

But some children and young people require more specialist provision. In Dorset, we have several:

• special schools
• specialist resource provisions attached to a mainstream school

We are continuing to develop local SEND provision to provide the best education for Dorset children and young people.

In 2021, we provided guidance to schools about how to develop a good quality Accessibility Plan.

This guidance highlighted the need to involve children, young people, their families, and wider school staff, in this process.

It also recommends:

• increasing staff awareness of disabilities
• promoting participation of pupils with a disability in school life
• thinking about the impact of how the school is organised
• considering outcomes for pupils with a disability
• using disabled role models

We will continue to promote this guidance in our work with schools and settings.

We have identified four key priorities within the Accessibility Strategy that we will focus on over the next three years.

Priority one: Increase the extent to which children and young people with disabilities can take part in the curriculum

We will do this through a range of actions such as:

• talking about accessibility when working with schools
• promoting the Dorset Graduated Approach
• using person-centred approaches
• thinking about accessibility in other areas of work
• providing support and advice services through local teams
• promoting training on how to support children and young people with disabilities
• providing opportunities for Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) to meet, share good practice and keep up to date with new developments

Priority two: Improve the physical environment of schools and other education settings so that children and young people with disabilities can take advantage of the education, benefits, facilities, and services offered

We will do this through a range of actions, such as:

• recommending improvements to the environment on an individual basis
• providing guidance to schools and settings about financial responsibilities for funding adaptations
• working with our maintained schools to plan individual accessibility adaptations

Priority three: Improve the delivery of information for children and young people with disabilities within schools and other education settings

We will do this through a range of actions, such as:

• providing specialist advice and guidance on an individual case basis
• publishing an Education Services Brochure for schools and settings
• using plain English in our work
• investing in accessible formats
• providing an improved Local Offer for children, young people and their families
• promoting online services to support good physical and mental health

Priority four: Work with the wider council, partner agencies and the voluntary and community sector to:

• raise awareness of barriers to accessibility
• promote equity of opportunity for children and young people with disabilities
• encourage building good relationships between children and young people who are disabled and those who are not

We will do this through a range of actions, such as:

• sharing principles to guide accessibility planning
• encouraging welcoming and inclusive communities, services, and businesses
• promoting national disability campaigns
• representing children and young people with disabilities in our publications
• creating training opportunities for our workforce about supporting disabilities
• providing input to strengthen health care pathways
• ensuring that information on facilities, activities and opportunities is accessible and promoted well
• working with our post-16 sector to increase knowledge about accessibility issues

Our expectations of schools and settings towards children and young people with disabilities are set out in the Accessibility Strategy.

These focus upon:

• ensuring they have an Accessibility Plan in place and that they review this
• making reasonable adjustments and being proactive in planning support
• following recommendations made by professionals, and listening to children and young people, and their parents and carers
• raising awareness of disability issues and making sure staff access relevant training

We will use a range of measures to check whether the Accessibility Strategy is having a positive impact. These include:

• using surveys to ask children and young people about their experience of accessibility at their school or setting, and in Dorset
• surveying parents and carers about accessibility in schools and settings, and in Dorset
• surveying those working in schools and settings
• undertaking audits of school Accessibility Plans
• evaluating training provided to schools and settings about supporting disabilities

Monitoring and reviewing the Accessibility Strategy

The Children’s Services Senior Leadership Team are responsible for the Accessibility Strategy.

Progress will be reviewed at the Strategic Alliance Board for Children and Young People.

The Accessibility Strategy will be kept under regular review and revised if necessary. It will be updated after 3 years.